The Last Message
by Sashocirrione
Summary: L just wasn't acting like the greatest detective in the world lately. He was incompetent and kind of haunted. Light doesn't know why until he sees a certain video. LxLight pairing.


**Title: **"The Last Message"

**Author: **Sashocirrione

**Spoilers: **Spoilers for everything up to episode 25 of the anime, chapter 58 of the manga.

**Warnings: **Rated T for violence and mentions of sex. Not my usual fluffy ending.

**Summary: **L just wasn't acting like the greatest detective in the world lately. He was incompetent and kind of haunted. Light doesn't know why until he sees a certain video.

**Pairings: **LxLight

**Additional Notes: **All canon events previous to this have occurred as normal.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Death Note, and I do not make any money from these writings.

* * *

L had just announced the test of the 13-day rule and all hell broke loose. What sounded like Watari's last gasps came over the intercom system, all the monitors blanked out and a moment later displayed the words "All data deletion" while the power briefly went out and then the back-up lights came on, red and ominous.

Then L said, "Where is the shiniga-"

And his words were cut off, and he was falling out of his chair, the spoon he had held falling beside him. Light grabbed L, lowering him to the floor gently. L said nothing, but continued to look up at Light's face, his eyes slowly closing, his head falling backwards limply.

Light shook L's limp form a few times, saying, "Ryuzaki! Ryuzaki!"

Soichiro said, "What happened? What's going on?"

Light screamed and said, "We're all going to die! First Watari, then Ryuzaki; it'll be us next!"

At that moment, all the monitors began playing a video of L, crouched in his usual position, hands on top of his knees, in an over-stuffed chair upholstered in a red and orange print.

L said, "If you are watching this, I am dead. I was wearing a heart monitor set to trigger the playing of this video. It is possible this video is playing to an empty room, if Kira killed everyone and left. In any case, copies of all the data I have, including this video, are in another location, and a message has already been triggered, telling Interpol and several other detectives where to find that back-up data. Nothing that Kira does from now on can save him."

L shifted uneasily in the chair and said, "I have evidence that proves Light is Kira. That proof is among the data. There are quite a number of pieces of evidence I held back from the investigation team, and together they form a very damning picture for Light."

Light said, "This is some kind of bluff. Ryuzaki won't let go of his theory, so he's trying to trick us."

L's dead body slipped from Light's grasp as the L on the screen continued talking.

L said, "Of these bits of concealed evidence, the most revealing is from Misa. After pursuing the Yotsuba Kira so vigorously, she obeyed Light too easily when he told her the plan had changed and she wasn't to go on dates with the men. This was out of character. Misa always wants to risk her life to help Light, even if he tells her not to. I was suspicious, so I had her secretly wired and recorded her full conversation on her date with Higuchi, not just the half she recorded on her cellphone and showed us. She proved herself to Higuchi as the second Kira by killing a business rival for him. I confirmed that the man she indicated died from a heart attack exactly at that time."

L hugged his knees closer to himself and sighed. Then he said, "The reason I held all these things back, is because I fell in love with Light. I know it is wrong. I have no excuse for my behavior that is good enough. I kept hoping that if I showed Light how much I was pushing him into a corner, he would realize he had no choice except to confess the truth secretly to me and beg for my mercy. Then I would agree to never turn him in to the authorities as long as the killings stopped for good."

L looked away from the camera for a moment, and then looked back. He said, "Light, I want to tell you that I was not planning to blackmail you into having sex with me. I am not that kind of person. I have spent a lot of time trying to figure out your sexual orientation. You are very secretive about those things. I think that you are perhaps bisexual. I might have had a chance with you, but it was all so uncertain. I never tried to kiss you or anything like that because I didn't want to scare you. I didn't want you to think you would face a sexual blackmail situation if you came to me for mercy."

L paused. His face was serene, but a single tear escaped from one eye and began running down his cheek.

L said, "I am a virgin. I understand that sex between two men is a bit gross and painful. I would have done it for you, Light, only you. But, if you hadn't wanted it, I would have extended the hand of friendship instead. I would have remained celibate. I want to be with you, in whatever way you're willing to accept me. But, if you are seeing this, then I failed. I kept trying to hint to you that I had extra evidence and could arrest you at any moment I wanted to. Perhaps I'm just too socially maladapted to get that message across clearly, or maybe you simply didn't want to hear it, because you were so sure you would win."

L paused, and more tears began to run down his face.

L said, "If it ended like this, then I was a fool and you were a bastard. But I can't let people continue to die for our mistakes. They may be criminals, but they are people. They deserve a chance, they deserve rights."

L used a sleeve to wipe all the tears from his face, and then leaned slightly toward the camera. He smiled, a big smile that looked almost unnatural on his face, and said, "Justice will prevail."

Then he reached forward with one hand, his hand becoming huge from perspective as it approached the camera lens, and suddenly the video went black.

Light looked around at the other investigation team members, and saw grim, suspicious looks on all their faces.

Light said, "Listen, this video proves L was a crazy homo who was way too obsessed with me. He's bluffing on the chance that I'm Kira and I would reveal myself if I saw a video like that. He didn't even play the recording of Misa and Higuchi that he said exists. And, even if that did happen like he says, it just proves Misa is Kira, not me. This is all a big set up, and it didn't work because I'm not Kira. If I were Kira, I would panic at seeing the video and do something. The fact that I'm still just standing here talking proves I'm not Kira."

Aizawa said, "Then, you won't mind if we lock you up until we've contacted Interpol, and it's fine to go investigate Misa right now?"

"Of course I don't mind," Light said, his tone indignant.

Aizawa turned away to get handcuffs, and Light lunged for the death note. Before he could reach it, Mogi and Matsuda had pinned him.

Light screamed and squirmed frantically, but in moments Aizawa had added himself to the heap and the handcuffs were on.

Light yelled, "How can you do this? I am justice. Without me, the world will be rotten. Matsuda, kill them all and I'll reward you beyond your wildest dreams. Dad, save me. You know I'm only upholding justice, like you taught me to do. Somebody! Somebody help me!"

Aizawa said, "Gag that filth before he says anything else."

Mogi forced a cloth in Light's mouth and his words were stifled, though he still struggled and his eyes were crazed and frantic.

Aizawa looked Light full in the face from a few inches away and said, "That homo, as you say, was the best detective in the world, and he was the only one who cared about you. Nobody here cares a thing about your piece of shit lying ass."

Then Light was dragged away, strip searched, and thrown into a holding cell. One week later, he was executed alongside Misa after a secret trial, while Ryuk floated next to him, giggling like a maniac.

Interpol didn't want the two good-looking glamorous youngsters to become heroes to their cult after death, so their identities were never revealed. Instead, two ugly, old child molesters who had recently died were presented to the world as Kira and the second Kira. Immediately, the Kira cult shrank to one-tenth of its former size.

L was buried in a large, fancy grave that drew a steady stream of law enforcement officials from all over the world. It was also periodically vandalized by the few Kira supporters left, but the security was heightened until that almost never happened any more.

The world was never told that L had been in love with Kira, but, secretly, L had made arrangements so that Light's grave, a humble one with a small headstone, was next to his own. Occasionally, the more enthusiastic Kira supporting vandals targeted nearby graves in addition to L's own, and so they ended up unknowingly besmirching the grave of their beloved god.

* * *

**A/N (Author's Note):**

Well, this was born from a bit of common fan-wank, namely that L just wasn't living up to his reputation near the end of his life and let a number of clues slip through his fingers, so therefore he must have either been affected by a friendship with Light or by being in love with Light.

I'm sure that wasn't the original author's intentions. L began slipping up near the end because the author had already decided to replace him with Near and Mello, and if L had been as good of a detective toward the end of his life as he'd been early in the Kira case, L would have won (or, at least, had some kind of draw that still probably would have messed up the Near/Mello arc).

I've never thought it was realistic that L set up such a lame trap for Kira after his death, of letting his successors chase Kira without giving them Kira's name or any evidence at all, and thus it took them years to catch up to Light. It just didn't seem like the sort of thing L would do. L would create a death trap that would result in Light getting caught, or at least almost caught, immediately after L's death.


End file.
